The institution of silent settlement of the matter and the issue of inactivity of the organ in administrative proceedings

Abstract

The basic problem of administration functioning in everyday practice of applying the law is its inactivity reflected in various areas of its operation. The issue of inactivity, as a pressing problem of modern administration, was one of the causes of legislative intervention of the legislator in connection with subsequent amendments to the Code of Administrative Procedure. Despite the efforts to identify increasingly restrictive disciplinary mechanisms, inactivity by the public administration has been a significant problem for the administration, with a pejorative social impact. The introduction to the Code of Administrative Procedure, on the basis of the amendment of 7 April 2017, of the institution of silent settlement of the matter, which by its very essence is to eliminate the phenomenon of administrative delay, is to be one of the measures which will directly guarantee that the administration will fulfil its obligations to deal with administrative matters within the statutory timeframe. It should be pointed out, however, that the introduction of the institution in the Code of Administrative Procedure has raised the issue of the perception of inactivity, not only as a legal phenomenon which qualifies under Article 37 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, but also as a factual phenomenon in the functioning of administration, since this does not exhaust the features of legal inactivity, but may have unwelcome consequences of a factual and legal character.